 George
Shilling reviews:
Thermionic
Culture Phoenix
Vic
Keary has been involved in Pro-Audio since the 1950s, when studios
often had to customise and build their own solutions. This
environment has ultimately led Vic to the happy position he now
occupies as Research and Design guru of Thermionic Culture. Over the
years, he has set up a number of recording studios, most notably
Chiswick Reach in the early 1990s, famous for its extensive valve
equipment. Since then, he has had time to pursue his own design
ideas for outboard equipment featuring valve circuitry. Vic's
Thermionic Culture partner Jonathan Bailes helps with design and
oversees manufacturing.
Buy recording equipment in our shop.
The
appearance of the Phoenix is striking. It is a hefty 3U rackmounter,
with startling square VU meters. The upper casing is fashioned from
bare steel sheeting punctured with a mesh of large holes, through
which the major components are clearly visible. These comprise six
valves (of three different, relatively uncommon types), three huge
transformers, four potentiometer shafts (for service adjustments)
two massive capacitors, and the aforementioned meters, all mounted
on a bare metal base section. It is a measure of the design
philosophy that huge shafted potentiometers are used for trims
rather than the tiny trimpots found more commonly. The smaller
electronic components and wiring are enclosed within the base. These
are accessed by removing the bottom metal panel, which reveals
familiar electronic components, but, astonishingly, no PCBs.
Components are either attached to the casing or mounted on one of
three solder-tag strips. This method of construction is almost
unheard of in these days of computer design. The rear of this
section includes the IEC mains socket, fuses, and two pairs of XLR
connectors for input and output. The rough casing construction could
be from a school metalwork class, but has a rugged appeal.
The
black front panel includes separate plastic-knobbed damped pots for
each channel for Gain (input level), Attack, Release, Threshold and
Output Trim knobs and Bypass toggle switches. There is also a Link
toggle for stereo operation, or as the manual usefully suggests,
sidechain control of one channel by the input to the other. The
controls are free from any markings of conventional calibration
scales. All knobs are simply legended from 1 to 11 - yes, the Spinal
Tap joke has truly been done to death. To the right is a large Power
toggle switch, accompanied by a torch bulb with a green cover to
indicate power on. There is no illumination of the odd-looking VU
meters. These meters are of Indian origin, and were reportedly
spotted in a nuclear reactor control room in a certain Eastern
nation. Thermionic Culture reject a large number of these due to
sticking needles, but after one initially paused a couple of times
they were fine. Their representation of the compression
characteristics is not entirely accurate, as their movement is
somewhat lethargic. This is no great problem, and one soon became
accustomed to their nature. It should be noted that the Output Trim
pots are placed after the electronics. They can be safely used to
lower the output level for -10dB operation.
Loosely
based on the Altec 436, this latest development of the design
features a wider-ranging Attack control than the original
prototypes. There is no Ratio control, as the design features a 'Vari-Mu'
soft-knee circuit which ranges from <2:1 initially to >20:1 at
20dB compression via a pleasant curve. This makes setting up a
doddle, the lack of conventional calibration forcing one to work by
ear. Juggling the Gain and Threshold knobs enables a wide range of
compression amounts, and the Attack and Release controls are
extremely wide-ranging, providing a variety of useful settings. It
is remarkably difficult to make things sound bad with this unit. The
Phoenix has a very musical character, and certainly brought one of
my mixes to life, controlling the bottom end beautifully, making the
vocals more rich and juicy sounding and generally making the track
sound more dynamic. I took an instant liking to it, and forgave its
lack of calibrated legending straightaway. On vocals the Phoenix was
truly a joy to use, suiting all vocalists I tried it with during my
brief review period. Use with drums and bass were equally enjoyable.
Noise levels were extremely low, and frequency response extremely
wide. If I have any criticism, it is possibly that the sound of this
unit is slightly too smooth and sweet, lacking a little raw
'graininess' of character found in certain older valve compressors.
The
Phoenix is priced as a professional product, distancing itself
somewhat from cheaper valve units flooding the lower reaches of the
market. Taking into account the many years of practical experience
behind this product, it seems like very good value. Indeed, the
Phoenix compares favourably with competitors that are much more
expensive. Construction is undertaken by hand by a team of just
three people, which makes each one inherently more special than any
mass-produced identikit box. The Phoenix is from a comfortingly
old-fashioned Home Counties cottage industry: note the proud use of
the word 'England' on the front panel. Its old-fashioned valve
warmth brings a magical glow to any signal.
Buy the Joe Meek TwinQ Studio Channel Strip in our shop.
Reproduced
with kind permission from www.George.Shilling.Com. Copyright ©1997
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